Everyone knows that the biggest party on Halloween takes place in Madison, Wis., each year. It draws thousands of people from every direction for a night of costumed revelry. And, whether it’s to visit friends or just experience the party that is Madison on Halloween, University students comprise a large chunk of those who make the pilgrimage. It happens every October, much to the dismay of campus bars and restaurants, not to mention the people who frequent them. However, this year was a little different.

A couple of students with ingenuity and ambition organized a pub crawl through Dinkytown in an effort to combat the attrition our bar scene experiences on Halloween weekend. With the help of several sponsors and through the use of guerilla marketing tactics, these students made Halloween in Dinkytown a worthwhile experience. The pub crawl was called Freak Fest and we hope it happens again next year, bigger and better.

Of course, there will always be detractors. People will say that Halloween in Minneapolis will never be as fun as Halloween in Madison. But these are probably the people who sport Wisconsin apparel and, furthermore, we don’t really see it that way. The suffocating police presence, the cover charge to get into the party and the long drive to Wisconsin all make it a party that’s not that cool anymore.

We believe that the only thing stopping Minnesota from having a Halloween party fit for rock stars is the will to do so. Campus bars and several sponsors are undoubtedly behind this effort, so we hope the student body joins in, too. It just takes a little bit of organization, a good buzz (in the public relations sense) and student groups who are willing to make it happen.

So next year, be on the lookout for Freak Fest and other events on campus. It’s going to have to build on itself over time, but there’s no doubt that it will eventually turn into our own, less violent, tradition. Because let’s face it, no one really wants to go to Madison; people just want to go to a cool party.